Life matters

Cloning is back in the news after the successful laboratory recreation of a human embryo in the US, which has revived the debate over the issue.

This week's picks include a site with all the cloning links you can handle, a report on genetics and a resource on wild Earth. In short, the stuff of life.

www.globalchange.com/clonlink.htm

This page is part of Patrick Dixon's site devoted to matters futuristic. Dixon, described as one of the world's prominent futurists, has dedicated an entire section of his site to news and views on cloning.

It contains the''very latest''news on human cloning and links on topics ranging from raging debates on the ethical issues involved, cloning legislation, research, artificial twinning and the science and technology that make cloning possible.

The Webmaster has included quite a few videos on the subject. Interested users can also check out the home page for more on what Dixon has done and has to say.

www.hhmi.org/GeneticTrail/

This page is part of an organisational Web site, the cyber version of Blazing a Genetic Trail, a report from Howard Hughes Medical Institute on genetics, starting from a primer on genetics to insight into inherited gene disorders and conquering genetic diseases.

The page is neatly laid out and comes close to replicating the experience of reading the report's hard copy. The report is divided into various chapters that lucidly describe several developments in the world of genetics.

Of particular interest are the chapters on the Human Genome Project and why some genetic disorders are so common. For those allergic to reading text within a browser, the entire report is available for download in PDF format.

www.thirteen.org/savageearth/index.html

Yet another page that is only part of a larger Web site, this one is devoted to Earth at her furious best. A Web companion to a four-part series called Savage Earth, it focuses on the history of natural disasters - from the fury of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 AD to the quakes in Kobe in 1994.

The series also tells the stories of the scientists who try to understand and predict them and those at the receiving end of ruthless Nature.

The page contains original articles by Daniel Pendick and Kathy Svitil, both journalists, which explain the science behind volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Added to the textual content are original animations that illustrate the action of these natural phenomena. Any doubts on disasters can be clarified with the experts behind the site, and if this topic kindles greater interest in you, you can always check out other''Savage Sites''on the Web.

Compiled by C. Ramesh